As the Allied Forces step up their attacks on Belgrade, Yugoslav film-maker Srdijan Karanovic - many of whose films have screened in Cannes - writes in with a glimpse of life from a city not so far from the Cote d'Azur that has been bombed nightly for the past six weeks.

Belgrade, May 1999

Dear all,

May is probably the best month to start shooting a feature film. The weather is finally temperate and stable. The days are longer. The grey, winter rain clouds, severe winds and floods are gone. July is not so bad, either. We were thinking to start shooting a movie in July in Belgrade - a real co-production: English, French, Yugoslav. But now that seems just like a far away dream, it feels somehow distasteful amid the current death and destruction, to even think about such a thing as making a movie - let alone say it or write it.

The month of May also means the Cannes International Film Festival. Many Yugoslav films have contributed to its fame and glory during its glamorous history. I am very proud that even three of my feature films - Social Game (1972), The Fragrance Of Wild Flowers (1978, Prix Fipresci) and Something In-Between (1982) participated in different programs of this distinguished festival. Right now I think about hundreds and thousands of my friends and colleagues who are gathered there. Some of them are happy, others consider themselves unlucky, disappointed or misunderstood - but they all are sure that it is part of the lives they have chosen to live. Probably most of my successful films I shot or I started in May.

However, in my native Belgrade it seems that right now all advantages of this month are good only for NATO attacks! Day and night, for more than six weeks, we have all been living in different kinds of fear and with different kinds of expectations. Is a BOmb or missile going to hit me or somebody whom I love or need? How many people will be killed right now as "Collateral Damage"? Are there going to be any bridges or factories left in my country after this aggression that cynically is supposed to be also for our good? Is it not obvious that this "Joy Stick War" is producing on a daily basis a worse and worse humanitarian catastrophe for all ten million citizens of Yugoslavia, including the Albanians? Isn't it obvious that you can't put out a fire with gasoline? How is it possible that the strongest powers of the world can't understand that Democracy, Human and Civil rights cannot be developed or implemented by force, destruction and poverty?

In Belgrade, Serbia and Yugoslavia it is even hard to think about films and filming. Also the Cannes International Film Festival seems so far away. Not only because all Yugoslav film-makers, technicians and actors are focussed on survival, but also because we are almost positive to a man that bombs and missiles already have destroyed the last hope for many films in different stages of pre-production. Now it seems that the film industry is not going to exist even theoretically any more. The State is going to be bankrupt for a long time and hardly any international partner will be ready to invest into the suspicious production of a suspicious country, under suspicious circumstances.

So, what are the achievements of NaTO aggression so far? For defense reasons new laws and regulations are made. Our phone calls, letters, fAXEs and E-Mails are controlled. The Army and state can at any time take or borrow any private property, including all film and TV equipment. All newspapers have censors and they all publish almost the same news. Only TV cameras are rolling. Groups of domestic and international TV crews are taken to the spots of new catastrophes each day.

Many highly professional film directors and technicians left the country during the first days of aggression. Right now it is impossible to leave the country without the express permission of the Army. It's also hard to get into any other country. Each day, despite this, I discover that one more friend or colleague just left.

ll the schools and universities are closed. This week I'll start to teach my students at my flat. My students are depressed, lost, but also eager to learn something more about film direction. It is obvious that they are not going to be able to shoot the films that they were preparing for two semesters. We'll have our classes only unless Air Alert is on, or only if there is electricity at my place. The other day, a few of them asked me: "What should we do with our lives, professor?" Of course, I couldn't give them a straight answer, since I am not able to answer that question even to myself.

Cinemas are showing only films that were already distributed. Ticket prices, which have never been expensive, are now symbolical. Last shows end around 7.30 p.m. because all people are rushing home to their shelters or flats to wait there for the new "humanitarian" NATO attack.

All my professional activities have stopped. For more than six weeks I can't even dream about future films, theatrical or TV projects. Not to mention the eventual Writing. It is the same with most of my colleagues in Belgrade. We hang around in some nice open-air coffee shops and enjoy May, trying to pretend that everything is normal. When any one of us mentions films and filming we only remember our projects that we practically lost with this aggression. Very few of uS are ready to think or talk about our Government's or Serbian mistakes, faults and sins. We all feel and think that those topics belong only to the time of peace.

For years many film directors, producers, critics, journalists and distributors from Yugoslavia were in Cannes during the film festival. This year I am almost sure that very few people from Belgrade will attend. I hope my friend Lazar Ristovski managed to get there to attend the world premiere of his first film, The White Suit. I wish him the luck he deserves and even more than that. Not only because I like Lazar, but also because I think that it is going to be the last film from this Yugoslavia for the time being.

Right now the Air Alert is on again. I can hear the distant detonations from the suburbs of Belgrade and, besides other already mentioned fears -- I do hope that the Film Studios, Yugoslav Film Archive (one of the richest in the world) and our one poor film lab is not going to be a part of the latest "Collateral damage." I hope "they" will stop shooting people and let us shoot films. The world would be much better. Not only in May, but also during all other months and in the years to come.

Good Luck

Srdjan Karanovic - Film director, Screenwriter, Professor